Spacifix Was a BAD Choice

So it has been confirmed that Spacifix are the opening act for Christina Aguilera on Thursday & Friday.

Yawn.

Let's take one of the hottest pop acts in the world, put her on stage in Auckland for the first time ever, and then warm up the crowd with the lamest bunch of Supergroove wannabe losers since the birth of Liberace!

Seriously, I would rather have seen a lame pop act from Australia. Heck, I would take an Idol winner over Spacifix. Even an NZ Idol winner! At least that could give me humour.

It is times like this I am glad I have reserved seating, so I can take my time and not get there early. Otherwise I will be wearing out my voice when Spacifix are on stage - someone has to tell them how much they suck

Praise the Lord for Coffee

I have realised lately just how addicted to caffeine I have become.

I'm not even sure how it started, but it would seem that the only way I can get through my day without being too cranky and horrible to everyone is to have a nice strong coffee. I blame my grumpiness on being tired and not sleeping well, but then having caffeine has always induced insomnia with me, so it is really just a vicious cycle; the more caffeine I have, the less I sleep - and the less sleep I get, the more caffeine I need.

But while others may say "Logan, maybe you should stop having coffee" I say "I need more coffee"; I don't like being grumpy, and if having a dose of caffeine makes me fun again, then I won't complain. And besides, who really needs sleep? I mean, there are only 24 hours in a day so why should I waste a third of them with my eyes shut when there are so many silly things to watch on YouTube?!

My Favourite Band

Often I am asked about my favourite band, and usually I give the same repsonse: The Cure and/or Queen. It is a fair statement, as both bands have been hugely influential in my music and their albums have been a cornerstone of periods of my life; I really latched onto The Cure when I left High School, and became suitable obsessed with their dark and epic sounds while on the road, and I've been listening to Queen since I can remember. We had a live concert of them in Rio from '84 which Dad used to watch and even then I wanted a guitar like Brian May's. I also wanted to be like Freddie Mercury on stage.

Dreams do come true.

But anyways, there is always one band I seem to overlook and I really can't understand why. I am, of course, talking about The Traveling Wilburys.

For those who aren't aware, The Traveling Wilburys were (from left to right) : Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison. They weren't so much a band, more some friends that decided it would be fun to record some songs together.

It originally started when George Harrison needed a B-side for a single of his latest album, Cloud Nine, which he had recently completed with Jeff Lynne co-producing. They both agreed that they really wanted to work with Roy Orbison, so they took Roy to Bob Dylan's studio, invited Tom Petty along and wrote and recorded Handle with Care. They enjoyed it so much, they decided to make an album - the only difficulty being that Dylan had to go on tour in just over a week, so they had to write and record the album in 9 days (as George put it, "a song a day").

The result is even more than you would expect from a group of rock'n roll legends - a true collaborative effort (they all wrote the songs and take turns singing on each track), and is quite easily one of the greatest albums of all time. I'm not going to go into detail, but what I will say is that this album has such a great vibe to it, their friendships just shine through. You can tell just by listening that they were having a great time making this album; there is a quote in the new re-issue that puts it best by saying it "is like wandering into a park somewhere and finding some of the best and best-known baseball players in the world playing a pick-up game just for the hell of it. They're rich, famous, and successful, and they could be anywhere, doing anything. But they're playing just because that's what they enjoy doing most."

Sadly, Roy Orbison passed away soon after. The Wilburys did record another album 2 years later, and though more country rock than pop, it still has that same infectious joy that makes Vol. 1 so incredible.

Basically, both albums are awesome and I couldn't recommend them highly enough. And thankfully, they have recently been re-released in a box set that contains both albums (Vol. 1 & Vol. 3 - a personal joke from George Harrison) and a special DVD that contains footage shot while making the first album. Considering these albums were out of print for the last 15 years, its very cool to see them back in stores (and in my collection in a fancy box set). So if you are looking to spend $30 on a cool album, I say go buy these 2 and enjoy old school rock'n roll at it's finest.

Yeah I have no problems shilling a cool CD.

'Til All Are One

Dude, give me back my toy truck!

Well, I saw Transformers last night. Lots of people saw Transformers lat night. At least, the smart people saw Transformers last night.

But instead of getting an actual review today, I am instead going to write a little bit of defence for Michael Bay and what he has done with the Transformers.

It seems there are a wide selection of geeks that grew up with Transformers that have a problem with the new movie and designs for the Transformers. Apparently, Michael Bay has even been receiving death threats since beginning work on the movie. You only have to take a quick look at the IMDB message boards to see it is filled with disgruntled fans of the G1 Transformers and their constant whining and complaining - when they haven't even seen the movie yet! While I don't consider Transformers to be the greatest movie ever - and it does have it's flaws - I have one thing to say to anyone who complains about this movie not being like the Transformers of old:

This is not 1986.

I know, that's pretty huge coming from me - Lord knows, I seem to be permanently stuck in a time warp where it is 1987 and Miami Vice is still new and exciting. But the fact is, if the Transformers looked and acted like they did in this movie like they did 20 years ago, this movie would look stupid. How many trucks do you see around that look like Optimus Prime did? Who makes square cars anymore? So why would a robot choose that design if they were trying to disguise themselves? Personally, I thought the new designs were amazing; they had to be done if this movie was to work, and they came up with fantastic creations.

Also, there have been a lot of people complaining about it not following the original Transformers storyline. Well, I want to know what storyline they are talking about, because none of the comics or various cartoon inceptions of Transformers have ever followed the same story arc - not even in the 80's.

Look, I'm an 80's loving-internet living-Transformers geek-fanboy as well, but sometimes the bitching is pathetic and there is no need for it. This movie could never have followed the original movie because there would be far too many characters to bring in, and it would just turn into one big mess... which is why they will no doubt make a sequel. And while I was against that at first, I read that my two favourite characters will be featured in the sequel - and I can't even begin to imagine how amazing Unicron would be!

So anyways, the movie rocks and the animation is absolutely incredible; even if the movie is cheesy and predictable, I can't describe the action as anything but massive (it is a Michael Bay movie, after all) and in the end isn't that what "summer blockbuster" movies are supposed to be about? It certainly makes all these crappy sequels we've been getting all year look like... well, crappy sequels.

So go see it, enjoy the spectacle, then go see it again and let's show these losers they are wrong by making this one of the highest grossing movies ever!

Chris Benoit R.I.P

I know I'm breaking my self-imposed ban, but I it had to be done.

As some of you may be aware, WWF wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their son were all found dead in their home this morning (NZ time). I read the news when it first broke, and I knew I wanted to say something about this... but I didn't know what. I sat there for most of the next hour trying to find any information I could - hoping that it was just another addition to the 'Death of Mr. McMahon' angle - only to keep finding the same things. Little by little, information has been coming out as they piece together what has happened. I'm still in disbelief... in fact, I'm struggling to understand it, making my own scenarios...

I can't claim to have known Benoit, or have even met him, but I can offer my views as a fan. I realised today that I have been watching his work for 10 years now; when a friend of mine was getting me back into wrestling when we were 17, she always used to tell me about Chris Benoit and how he was her favourite. I remember not being impressed at first; he was awesome to watch in the ring, but he wasn't a big guy, and he didn't yell in promos at all! He always talked so softly, and I would be like "Come on, man, start shouting about tough you are!" But as I watched WCW more, I too began to appreciate "The Crippler" - he was far and away the best wrestler in the business at the time, and always seemed to put everything into his matches.

As years went on, Benoit just got better and better; and after heading to the WWF in 2000 we soon saw some seriously great action from him. He had become one of favourite wrestlers - I suffered many a crossface from Eamonn because of him - just because he was so darn good! He was intense, had serious skills in the ring, and the way he did everything you just thought he was going to seriously hurt someone. He would have to be my number 3 wrestler of all time... I don't think I saw many matches from him that I didn't enjoy. Even though he never did learn to shout in his promos.

I'll always remember how much commentators in WCW always referred to him as the greatest wrestler to never win a title - until he finally won his first in 1998 (and even then it was only a minor belt). And although he got a few title shots in the WWF, I think people were worried he was going to get the same treatment there too. At Wrestlemania XX in 2004, Chris Benoit finally achieved his dream and became WWE World Heavyweight Champion. I finally watched that match just a couple of weeks ago, and have to say it was one of the best Wrestlemania matches ever.

It was to be his only World Title win. He was apparently booked to win the ECW World Title this past Sunday, but of course that changed when he didn't show up to the event.

This really is a huge tragedy for the world of pro-wrestling, to lose one of the most talented and respected athletes to ever grace the squared circle - and in such a dark, tragic way. My utmost love and heartfelt prayers go out to the family and friends that they leave behind.

And I must give a quick little nod to the WWE for how they have handled this: not only did they remove all articles relating to the 'Death of Mr. McMahon' from their website, as soon as the story broke they cancelled their live show and replaced the night's 3 hour Mr. McMahon Memorial Service with a tribute show to Chris Benoit - and sent all the wrestlers home to deal with their grief. Nice to see they are learning, and giving this great athlete the respect he deserves.

I'm going to go watch the Owen Hart tribute match between Bret Hart and Chris Benoit, from 1999. I'm glad I have at least 1 great match he was involved in.

Behold - It Is Coming!

I have had a few people discuss this, so I thought it best to air my thoughts in a public manner...

Unless you have spent the last few months blindfolded, your mouth sewn shut, your ears filled with cement and have been living with the Mandiko Tribe in deepest, darkest Africa, then you will no doubt be aware that the latest Transformers movie opens on Thursday (although it is different according to regions across the globe - America don't get it until next week. Take that, suckers!). Now, the deal here in Christchurch (and most of NZ, I'm assuming) is that we get the midnight screening tomorrow night/Thursday morning. However, The Edge are giving away tickets to a special premiere screening tomorrow night at 7pm.

While most people have been curious as to why I am not currently spending most of my time trying to win tickets to that screening, the people who have told me they are going - and the radio station running the competition - really made me certain that this is not the screening for me. Sure, you kids with your free tickets get to see it 5 hours before me - and for free - but in all honesty, I am much happier with the midnight screening.

You see, for most guys my age, Transformers is something like sacred ground. We all watched the cartoon show, we all had the toys (or at least wanted the toys) and we all wanted to go to Cybertron and help Optimus Prime destroy the Decepticons. Most of us also love the movie, hated Rodimus Prime, and couldn't transform the Megatron figure to save our lives. Some of us even wanted to build our own life-size Unicron... but only the really cool kids.

As I was saying...
This movie is pretty much going to be under a lot of scrutiny by people my age. There are already many people that are offended by the way the 'new' Transformers look (personally, I think they look cool - 80's cars and trucks would look very out of place driving around). But for the most part, people who have won free tickets to this premiere are nothing more than young people who didn't grow up with the show or have any idea who Unicron even is. I mean, hello you have to listen to the Edge for tickets - the station for brain dead teenagers who want to hear the same song by untalented people all day every day!

Whereas I feel the midnight screening is where the fans are going to be. The people who remember what it was like to watch Optimus Prime die. The people who remember that classic transforming sound. I people who will all smile when Starscream makes his first appearance. I don't think I could handle seeing this movie with people that don't even know who Starscream is.

No offense to those that have tickets - as I know of a few people that are going to that screening. I hope you enjoy the movie. This is just one of those occasions where age actually makes a difference.

So come 12:01 am Thursdsay morning, I will be sitting in my seat with my Decepticon t-shirt and surrounded by Transformers fans from the Golden Age of Cybertron, ready to relive the excitement we all felt as a child when we first saw the Autobots save Earth from the Decepticons.

Otherwise, a certain movie is going to blasted in my blog Thursday morning.

Oh Yeah, I'm Predictable

I realised this morning that my blogs are becoming increasingly predictable; they are either about wrestling, or just me bitching about Paul McCartney or George Lucas.

So on that vain, I thought we would continue this week's trends and just have a little look at

TODAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE BEATLES

Today, in 1964, The Beatles performed their concert in Wellington. That's pretty cool, in my books. Pity I was 16 years away from being born.

And in 1966, this was the last day of the Revolver sessions. That's also pretty darn cool.

And finally, on this day in 1968, The Beatles purchased their new Apple Offices on 3 Saville Road. It is of course, the building where they performed their famous rooftop concert. I might write a blog on that concert...

So was that interesting? Maybe not.

But isn't it a fun way to waste a blog?

So my mission for all of next week is to avoid the main three topics for my blogs, and see if I can still write anything worthwhile. But then again, I haven't managed to write anything worthwhile in a very long time, so taking away my main source of inspiration may not help.

Actually, as a warning to you all, next week could be a Transformers-heavy week, with the new movie out and all. I have my tickets - do you?